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2012: The year of... Campaigns for change

In 2012 the AJ launched an iPad magazine, the AJ CPD portal, and the Women in Architecture and More Homes Better Homes campaigns

What a year. If you’ve met the AJ team, you’ll know what a dedicated group of people I have the pleasure of working with – mostly ex-architects or architecture graduates who’ve grown up reading this title and have a strong desire to make it better and better

In 2012, we’ve been busy behind the scenes looking to the future of the AJ. We launched the AJ for iPad – a weekly interactive edition of the magazine, which saw our art and production desk re-train as digital designers and our production desk adjust to the challenge of adding an iPad magazine to our daily website coverage, weekly print magazine and monthly supplement, AJ Specification.

We also launched a dedicated AJ CPD portal, where architects can get their CPD accreditation by reading the AJ and filling in questionnaires. The portal also keeps a personal record of what modules you’ve completed and lets you download certificates.

This year, we’ll continue to invest in our digital resources, such as the AJ Buildings Library, while continuing to publish the best of British architecture in print. We’ll also be covering international buildings where relevant to British practice – a new remit for the AJ.

But for me, 2012 will be remembered for the launch of the AJ Women in Architecture campaign, awards and luncheon – and presenting Zaha Hadid with the Jane Drew Prize in front of a sold-out crowd was the highlight. It was the first architectural event I’ve ever attended where women outnumbered men. The campaign was also the first time the AJ has truly leveraged its significant reach online – from the 210,000 unique visits to our website each month to our 50,000 followers on Twitter and 10,000 members on LinkedIn – to call for change.

For me 2012 will be remembered for the launch of the AJ Women in Architecture campaign

AJ Women in Architecture was picked up across the globe, from BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to NBC Washington, the Huffington Post to Australian website Parlour, and was nominated for Campaign of the Year by the British Society of Magazine Editors.

Our success with the ongoing Women in Architecture campaign taught us a lot about the AJ’s capacity to lobby on behalf of the profession. As a result, we’ve launched further initiatives – including More Homes, Better Homes, calling for design quality to be enshrined in the government’s home-building initiatives.

Our plan for the year ahead is to continue to speak not only to our audience of architects, but on behalf of them, using all our platforms to ensure the voice of our subscribers is heard, loud and clear, in the halls of power.

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The Architects’ Journal is the UK’s best-selling weekly architecture magazine and is the voice of architecture in Britain

About the Architects' Journal

The Architects' Journal is the voice of architecture in Britain. We sit at the heart of the debate about British architecture and British cities, and form opinions across the whole construction industry on design-related matters